Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Private Initiative is Transforming Health Care

By Grace-Marie Turner

At the Consumer Health World conference in Las Vegas, I was once again awed and by the innovative ideas and investment in solutions, technologies, and advances in health care and coverage.

The real news at the conference was from business and medical leaders who are leading market changes, including: Digital medical care, the globalization of medicine, medical tourism, the unstoppable demand for more personalized information from consumers, technologies to extend a medical home, sophisticated employee wellness programs, and ways to dramatically reduce health costs through efficiencies in the delivery of care.

More and more companies from other industry sectors are focusing their skills, technologies, and experience on the health care space, with the potential to produce dynamic, bottom-up change. The political climate matters a lot in being receptive to these changes, but these companies have the potential to be transformative in reducing costs and increasing quality if we will let the market work.